Massachusetts Man Who Distributed Steroids Over the Internet is Sentenced

Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN PAULINE, 48, of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to three years of probation, the first six months of which PAULINE must serve in home confinement, for distributing anabolic steroids. Judge Burns also ordered PAULINE to perform 150 hours of community service. PAULINE pleaded guilty to the offense on January 16, 2009.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, in 2007, PAULINE distributed anabolic steroids by mail to individuals who contacted him over the Internet, including customers in Connecticut. PAULINE had advertised the sale of anabolic steroids on Internet message boards such as "TheHouseofJuice.com."

PAULINE has admitted that he purchased more than one kilogram of anabolic steroid powder from suppliers in China, which was used to manufacture the steroids he distributed.

This matter stems from Operation Phony Pharm, an investigation headed by the FBI's Healthcare Fraud Unit in the District of Connecticut. Using several sophisticated investigative techniques, this initiative has targeted web sites and individuals who are selling Schedule II and III pharmaceuticals over the Internet without a doctor's consultation or a legitimate legal written prescription. The investigation also sought to identify and close down underground laboratories in the U.S. that are making these drugs from raw materials obtained from outside the U.S.

In sentencing PAULINE below the recommended guideline range of 24 to 30 months of imprisonment, Judge Burns noted that PAULINE had stopped distributing steroids prior to his awareness that he was the target of a federal investigation, and that PAULINE has spent time recently discussing his criminal conduct with high school students and educating them as to the dangers associated with steroids use.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Edward Chang.

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